Doc. Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 So I keep kicking around ideas in my head. Once I can set aside some quality time I "need" to do a Comanche project. I have a lot of parts at my disposal. It will be 97 up front and driveline. Has anyone seen extended cab MJ project's anywhere? Not 4 door, just a little longer cab. For me, the box needs to remain unaffected. The "simplest" way I've thought up is to cut and splice through the floor and roof, extend it the right amount and use 2 door XJ doors. I don't know if I'd like the way that would look though. Also I have no good 2 door doors and they are tough to come by here in MN. I do have a rusted out MJ I could do a heck of a lot of fab work and stretch the cab behind the doors though. Not sure if it would even look good. I know it would be a ton of work though, and all for "what"? Anyway, anyone have any photos or links of someone else doing anything of the sort? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 I think it's a great idea. Back in 1988 I chose to buy an XJ rather than an MJ solely because Jeep didn't have an extended cab version. If they had offered one, I would have bought it in a heartbeat. Sure it would be a lot of work, but you'd be the only kid on the block to have one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area51Werks Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 I don't know your experience level but I am a former collision/ resto shop owner. I would be happy to assist with cut locations and welding technics to get you started in the right direction. Are you planning a long box chassis with a short box swap? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area51Werks Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 I frequent a Porsche 914 forum. I don't have a place I host photos so I can't link them here. But here are a few posts of some of my work. Maybe this will give you some ideas. http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=181906&hl= http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=177500&hl= http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=82905&hl= http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=82905&hl= Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area51Werks Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Look What I found on this forum. http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f53/xtra-cab-comanche-there-such-thing-826028/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dadinator Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 I have considred this. I think the easiest thing would be to find a later 2door xj, short bed mj, cut them both in half and bond. Would be a lot of fab work, but you would get the more modern xj engine, electronics and interior. I think it would be easier than trying to stretch an mj. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc. Posted November 28, 2015 Author Share Posted November 28, 2015 Well, I'm 49 and have been doing body work, repairables, fab work, etc., for ever (at least it feels that way). Not afraid to cut and paste with steel. Doing it on a computer however, that's where I fall short. I did do a couple crude attempts in Publisher. I thought that just stretching it with 2 door XJ doors would look odd, and that regular doors with cab extended would look better. However the longer doors with cab corners left alone actually looked better. That would be the "easiest" way to stretch too. Unfortunately I don't have any good 2 door XJ doors. When I get to this Comanche project I will be grafting a short bed MJ together with a 2001 XJ so I will already have it cut in half through the floor and WS post. When done I want this to look as if it could have come from the factory in 2001. Pretty good idea of where, how to cut but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts Area 51. Looks like you're not afraid to cut some metal either. Never used a spot welder like shown in your one photo. What's your opinion on it? I've thought about buying one but since I haven't used one and there aren't may times it could be utilized anyway...... Your photos are already hosted. All you have to do is right click, properties, copy the url, click image box on here, paste the url. Yep, pretty proud of myself for figuring this out. :smart: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area51Werks Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 Thanks for the posting tip on getting photos on here. I've never done that. The pinch spotter is a HF 220 unit. I changed the cord and added a 25' heavy gauge cord. I can reach any place in the shop with it now. The face spotter is an old Lenco. I upgraded it to duel purpose face and pinch spotter. I burned up one HF spotter while building that Mercedes but all in all it is an excellent value. I was spotting 16 ga, box rails with it. As long as were musing here. I have a question. Anyone have the measurement of the box from the cab edge to the leading edge of the wheel opening for the short and long box? My thought would be to start with a long box truck, use a short box and add the cab length to fit the space. If you needed more length with the cab to balance to look You could shorten the box behind the cab a few inches and not upset the stock appearance. I also would want it to look like something the factory could have done. BTW: Area51Werks is just my hobby shop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc. Posted December 3, 2015 Author Share Posted December 3, 2015 Anyone else have any links or photos of extended cab Comanche's? Even if they are just photo shop pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yxmj Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Search this site....someone posted pics of a "factory" conversion a year or so back...I think the truck was located in South America... . :MJ 1: . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOrnbrod Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Image Not Found Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikekaz1 Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Image Not Found hahahaha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strokermjcomanche Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Search this site....someone posted pics of a "factory" conversion a year or so back...I think the truck was located in South America... . :MJ 1: . http://comancheclub.com/topic/44668-project-4-seat-mj-killed-in-the-womb/?fromsearch=1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnj92131 Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Doc, I like the idea of just extending the cab to use the longer doors from the 2 door XJ. If my memory is correct (ha-ha), the doors for the 2 door XJ are either 11 inches or 8 inches longer than the standard MJ door. The Comanche roof profile is different from the XJ roof profile, so I would want to use the roof portion of a scrap MJ for the roof extension. Exactly how to extend the MJ floor pan is a puzzle to me. I understand the XJ and MJ floor plans start to change just behind the front most XJ/MJ seat bracket. Meaning the transition from XJ floor pan to MJ style floor pan takes place under the front seats. So I would want to extend the front portion of the MJ floor pan to preserve the stock MJ pan to truck bed as stock possible. This would give you less than 12 inches additional room in the cab, but IMHO, totally worth it and a much better looking truck than most "Cheromanche" conversions I have seen in pictures. Wheelbase, even with the long bed would "only" be 130/131" - the same as an extended cab Dakota. Best of luck. Really hope to see this project move forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc. Posted December 4, 2015 Author Share Posted December 4, 2015 johnj92131, that is what I keep coming back to for the most logical option. Just wish I had some nice doors from a 97 up XJ 2 door. I a rusty 2 door and measured them and compared to the MJ doors, forgot what the difference was though. I do have a rusty MJ for the extra roof section too. I think I have it worked out in my head for the floor. Would be nice to see a photo of one done that way to see how it would look. This? Yah, I don't think so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 johnj92131, that is what I keep coming back to for the most logical option. Just wish I had some nice doors from a 97 up XJ 2 door. I a rusty 2 door and measured them and compared to the MJ doors, forgot what the difference was though. I do have a rusty MJ for the extra roof section too. I think I have it worked out in my head for the floor. Would be nice to see a photo of one done that way to see how it would look. I believe this one has 2-door doors: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikekaz1 Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 johnj92131, that is what I keep coming back to for the most logical option. Just wish I had some nice doors from a 97 up XJ 2 door. I a rusty 2 door and measured them and compared to the MJ doors, forgot what the difference was though. I do have a rusty MJ for the extra roof section too. I think I have it worked out in my head for the floor. Would be nice to see a photo of one done that way to see how it would look.I believe this one has 2-door doors: I thought this was deemed a photo shop? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zetabird Posted December 4, 2015 Share Posted December 4, 2015 Image Not Found thats, interesting... i did always think a slant back humvee topper would be kinda neat for keeping a spare tire and tools out of the weather Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin809 Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 johnj92131, that is what I keep coming back to for the most logical option. Just wish I had some nice doors from a 97 up XJ 2 door. I a rusty 2 door and measured them and compared to the MJ doors, forgot what the difference was though. I do have a rusty MJ for the extra roof section too. I think I have it worked out in my head for the floor. Would be nice to see a photo of one done that way to see how it would look.I believe this one has 2-door doors: I thought this was deemed a photo shop? This is photo shopped. He did many different variations.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 This is photo shopped. He did many different variations.. I didn't know it was 'shopped. Even so, it shows what an MJ would look like if stretched to accommodate 2-door XJ doors, and that was the question to which I was responding. Nice 'shop job -- one of these days I need to learn Photoshop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 This is photo shopped. He did many different variations.. I didn't know it was 'shopped. Even so, it shows what an MJ would look like if stretched to accommodate 2-door XJ doors, and that was the question to which I was responding. Nice 'shop job -- one of these days I need to learn Photoshop. There are a couple pictures of that truck, if you look below the truck at the driver rear tire that it was not edited correctly. Not that specific pic mentioned, but others of that truck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowrange2 Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 Honestly, I think it'd be pretty silly to build an Extended cab MJ when you could easily chop the back off of an XJ, close it in and build a tailgate with MUCH less effort and end up with basically the same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnj92131 Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 Honestly, I think it'd be pretty silly to build an Extended cab MJ when you could easily chop the back off of an XJ, close it in and build a tailgate with MUCH less effort and end up with basically the same thing. It depends on your point of view, doesn't it? I see jacked up trucks driving down the street and I think they look very silly. Not to mention when you see one of these lifted trucks in an accident. I see lowered cars with air bags and I wonder what is the point of going down the street with 1 inch of road clearance. No way to get a decent size bed on an XJ conversion. Also, XJ conversion lacks the proper factory transition to a cargo box frame. The XJ conversion is just a weakened unibody structure with the top cut off. So if you want to convert an XJ to a truck the "proper" way - you should follow the example of the factory engineers. I am quite sure they did the math. Seriously Lowrange2, don't you think if it were just as simple and easy as you propose, the factory would have done it your way? They must have had good reason to do it the way they did - don't you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 Honestly, I think it'd be pretty silly to build an Extended cab MJ when you could easily chop the back off of an XJ, close it in and build a tailgate with MUCH less effort and end up with basically the same thing. Not at all the same thing. Lots of people have done the Cheromanche mod, and you get a vehicle that has a load bed that's no more than two feet long. Now HERE's a nice crew cab XMJ: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikekaz1 Posted December 6, 2015 Share Posted December 6, 2015 I'd like to see the interior on that quad cab! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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